Spacex offers $60B for Cursor, preempting $2B fundraise

SpaceX preempted a $2 billion funding round for AI coding startup Cursor by offering a $60 billion buyout option. The round, which would have valued Cursor at $50 billion, was set to close this week with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, Nvidia, and Battery Ventures. SpaceX's deal gives it the option to acquire Cursor later this year or pay $10 billion for AI collaboration. The acquisition is delayed until after SpaceX's IPO this summer to avoid updating confidential filings and to finance the purchase with publicly traded stock. Cursor faces competition from Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex, and the $10 billion capital injection provides a safety net. SpaceX, which recently merged with xAI, aims to bolster its AI capabilities and position itself as an AI company to attract higher valuation multiples. The company has vast computing capacity at data centers in Mississippi and Tennessee that it can offer Cursor. SpaceX plans to keep the entire Cursor team intact if the acquisition proceeds.